Part-time nation

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.4 percent. In reality there is almost nothing to like about the July jobs report — a report that comes days after we learned that the GDP grew an anemic 1.7 percent last quarter.

Here are some of the lowlights:

There were 162,000 new jobs in July. Expected: 180,000. Here’s how stagnation looks in context, courtesy Marketwatch.)

With the full implementation of Obamacare looming, it is no longer deniable that it is hurting growth. Of the 953,000 jobs created in 2013 only 23 percent were full-time. That means that 731,000 part-time jobs have been created. Here’s what it looks like in context (via Forbes):